bbq

Spring transitioning into summer months is probably my favorite time of the year. The days aren’t too hot yet and the evenings still cool down enough to wear a sweatshirt. It’s the perfect weather for barbecuing. Cooking and eating outside is a warm weather activity that I wait for all year, and luckily, living in California affords me the opportunity to do this far more often than most. When I first transitioned to eating a more vegan diet I was worried that I wouldn’t have many options for barbecue-type foods, but fortunately, there are so many more options than I originally thought. Vegan burger patties, vegan sausages, vegan hot dogs, ALL of the things you would think of for an outdoor cookout. And beyond that, there are so many ways to change up your sides recipes to make them vegan. This is one of those recipes that I’ve been playing with for a while and is one of my favorite barbecue/cookout sides – potato salad.

This potato salad recipe uses red potatoes, but any type of potatoes will do. You can also peel them if you prefer – I like skins on for the extra nutrition boost and the whole less work and time argument. I used Follow Your Heart vegan mayo which is my absolute favorite. I’m actually not usually a mayo person at all, but this mayo is bomb. I also used fresh dill from our garden, but you could use dried, just be sure to use less if doing so (about half of what you’d use fresh). Without further rambling, let me just post the recipe…

Vegan Potato Salad

4-5 cups of red potatoes, cut into about 1 inch pieces

1/4 c red onion, diced

1/4 cup dill pickle, diced

2-3 Tbsp of fresh dill

1/2 c vegan mayo

1 Tbsp mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil a large pot of salted water and once boiling add potatoes. Cook potatoes for about 10-15 minutes or until pierced by a fork, stirring occasionally to avoid the water boiling over. You can also turn the heat down a bit once a boil is reached to avoid this.
While potatoes are cooking slice and dice all other ingredients and add to a large bowl for mixing.
Drain potatoes and rinse with cold water. Let potatoes sit for a while to cool off. You don’t want to mix your mayo with super hot potatoes or it will melt and be an icky looking mess. If you’re in a rush, leave cold water running over potatoes until mostly cool or slightly warm.
Add potatoes to bowl with all other ingredients and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours before serving.
Enjoy!

Spring is finally here! I love the change in the weather because it means that I get to spend more time outside. Not only that, Daylight Savings makes the days longer giving me even more time to enjoy the sun. One of my favorite things about the changing of the seasons is being able to cook outside. Last year my husband and I moved into a new house with a good sized backyard. One of our first new home purchases for spring was a new barbecue. We opted for a gas style to make it faster and easier to use the barbecue whenever we had a craving for cooking outdoors. You can make almost anything on the barbecue, and as a vegetarian it’s great that almost every vegetable tastes better coming from the grill. A simple way to incorporate several of your favorite vegetables at once is the kebab. There are so many different combinations to choose from. Throw on a little bit of vegan sausage and you’ve got yourself a filling and delicious meal that might be more fun to assemble than to eat (who am I kidding, both parts are the best!).

Grilling kebabs is a quick and easy way to have a healthy and delicious meal. You throw all of your ingredients on a skewer and let cook on the grill for only a few minutes. Luckily, my mom bought me a brand new metal skewer set for Christmas. It even came with a rack to place all the skewers on which made them so easy to turn and take off the grill once they were finished. You don’t need metal skewers to make kabobs, but if you buy the wooden skewers there’s a couple things to keep in mind. First, is you need to soak wooden skewers in water. Soak them in water for 10-30 minutes before assembling, otherwise you may end up with a bunch of firey skewers in your barbecue. Trust me, I’ve done this, it’s not as fun as it might sound. The water soaks into the skewers which keeps them from burning on the grill during cooking. Metal skewers are great because they can be used over and over again (hello, sustainability). Remember not to touch them with your bare hands when they are on the grill (yes, I’ve done this too). We use pot holders to turn them or you can use tongs or something else to pick them up to avoid burning your hands.

Kebabs can be made with any combination you like. For this particular recipe, I used the Tofurky Beer Brats, red onion, and a combination of colorful bell peppers. I also put baby bella mushrooms on mine which I thought were extra delicious. Simply cut each item into pieces and layer onto the skewer. The order of the ingredients really doesn’t matter, but it is fun to play with different patterns and hey, it makes for a good photo-op. Other ingredients that would be tasty are pineapple, cherry tomatoes, squash/zucchini, white onions, corn, tofu and shrimp (if you’re pescatarian like me). Kebabs are great as a vegan offering as well because they’re so simple and can use only vegetables if you or your guests prefer. I suppose you could also marinate these if you wanted to. I prefer to let the flavor of the vegetables stand on their own. But to marinate simply soak your cut ingredients in the sauce or marinade of your choice at least 30 minutes before grilling.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I hope it inspires you to have a colorful dinner outdoors! It really is one of my favorite things about this time of year. What are you favorite items on kebabs? And do you have any other yummy recipes for cooking outside?

Vegan Kebabs

1 pack of Tofurky Beer Brats, sliced into about 1.5″ chunks

1/2 red onion, sliced into chunks

1 green bell pepper, sliced into chunks

1 red bell pepper, sliced into chunks

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced into chunks

1 orange bell pepper, sliced into chunks

Baby bella mushrooms, I used 10

Olive oil, for drizzling on skewers

Salt and Pepper

Take your chunks of ingredients and layer onto skewers. You can do this in whatever order you like. I did all vegetables, then a piece of sausage or mushroom and then repeated until the skewer was full.
Place finished skewers on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on them as well.
Heat up the grill.
Place skewers on the grill and close the grill.
Let them cook for 5-10 minutes or until the vegetables start to blister and brown.
When they are cooked to desired texture, remove from the grill and place back on the baking sheet.
To serve, use a fork to push all ingredients off the skewer.
Serve with a baked potato and a side salad for a filling meal that’s sure to please!
Enjoy!

Until next time!

MelissaRose